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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Mandela statue unveiling. By the time that golden sheet was off of Mandela it was bucketing rain just like in 1993

Crowd in Nelson Mandela Place in front of a large golden sheet covering the soon to be revealed statue. A big flag in the black green and yellow of the African National Congress flaps in the wind

Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Love the poster: "Does Art Flourish Under Oppression? by Malak Naseem, a Maldivian/Sri Lankan artist based in Scotland whose work explores migration, colonisation and politics. The piece wraps her dissertation on artists and oppression around a map of every country colonised by the British Empire."

Poster for Black History Month Scotland 2026 with a green map outlined within columns of text

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Very damp shift for those of us in the Glasgow walking tour business today! Worth it as the tour raised over £500 for beloved local bookshop Category Is. Also fun to get a shot of the photobooth in Trongate 103 with my co-guide and one of the tour attendees

Black and white photobooth strip of three people squashed into the frame, all with wet hair plastered to their heads, assorted goofy expressions on display

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Really enjoyed hearing @tajali1.bsky.social speak about his new book at the Glasgow launch last night, hosted by Glasgow Trades Council. Important discussions about working-class history, antiracism and community organising. Looking forwards to reading the book!

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Today's charity shop find. Like to imagine it came from a long-disappeared tropical fish shop

My hand holding a plaster plaque of a stern-looking angelfish on a golden background. It's quite big and does have shop display sign vibes imo. had the original price on the back - 15 shillings!

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Read this over the weekend - what a sharp, funny, dark wee book. I've never really read anything like it. Loved it and can't wait to read more of Agnes Owens' work.

Cover of new edition of A Working Mother by Agnes Owens, with an illustration from a Joan Eardley painting.

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Taking advantage of it being an online event to work on my Mandy McIntosh Keeping Glasgow in Cables jumper - this is going to be my winter uniform for running walking tours in the freezing cold

Knitting pattern of an incredible jumper with the Glasgow coat of arms (tree, fish, bird & bell) on the front in cabled Aran knitting. Beside it is a half knit sleeve in a lovely green shade

Front cover of the pattern, shown modelled on what looks like a stone sculpture

Close up of the beautiful mathematical nature of a knitting pattern charted on graph paper with different combinations of lines and dots communicating where you make the increases, do the cables, in what direction etc. Readable by knitters but a mystery to everyone else

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I got a great zine earlier in the year by a new group called Clyde Alive, one of the things they're interested in is a campaign to daylight the Molendinar. Would be brilliant

Front cover of a lovely zine called A speculative daylighting of the Molendinar Burn

Pages of the zine showing streetscapes in Glasgow with the vision of a bright blue Molendinar burn open to the air

Text explaining that daylighting is the process of uncovering culverted streams and rivers. it's big in Zurich and is good for biodiversity. Some places in UK have done it including the Porter Brook in Sheffield and the River Roch in Rochdale

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Ha I'd forgotten about the squirrels, my abiding memory is the campaign she ran over several years against the menace of easter egg packaging. Loads of bizarre photoshoots

Jo Swinson gesturing with one hand at a pile of chocolate eggs in foil and with the other hand a a pile of cardboard boxes which previously contained the eggs

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Hi friends, if you would like a lovely Strathclyde Always Antifascist t-shirt or jumper, today there is free UK shipping. All profits go to printing and distributing free antifascist stickers, zines and other resources. Please share! radical-glasgow-tours.teemill.com

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

This is an outstanding exhibition, only on for a couple more days. Deeply powerful, I can’t recommend it highly enough

Poster for The Legacy of Slavery, part of the Edinburgh festival running in Playfair library until 30 Aug

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Doing an event in the Scottish Parliament today as part of the Festival of Politics, provoking this almost unprecedented act:

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Tradeston sights, with info on each building in the alt text. Well worth a wee walk around there. The old Telephone exchange had some kids carrying on inside who bolted when they realised there was a group of historic building enthusiasts peering in

Tradestone Telephone Exchange, a red brick building in poor nick with lots of windows open and plants growing out the top. Guide said someone on a previous tour said it was sometimes used for raves...

Clydesdale Colour and Oil Works building, a red brick one with lovely arched windows and a crenellated tower I'm told is in the Venetian Gothic style

Lovely but boarded up Leyland Motor Company building in an art deco/Streamline Moderne style, the one you see from the Cathcart Circle line. With a tower and all elegant columns running up the sides

Another car factory or workshop on the corner of Kilbirnie St, one of the first steel framed concrete buildings in Glasgow. Apparently they sold the design to Detroit so there is one the same over there

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I wrote an article about Smudge, People's Palace cat and trade unionist, for the @leftcultures.bsky.social issue 05 and LOOK at the accompanying illustration! By Chris Haughton, artist and legend. Hang it in the Louvre 😭

Two page spread of a magazine in beautiful dark blue, pink and red tones with the most adorable illustration of a cat you have ever seen on the left hand page. She has a thought bubble coming from her calm face showing her thoughts: "The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas", and also a small fish

Close up on that delightful Smudge showing the black patches on her ears and face and a heart-shaped one on her side. Text to the side saying SISTER SMUDGE and some biographical info about this feline icon

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Went to see Glasgow City vs Celtic this weekend. Brilliant atmosphere - you are so close to the game! Highly recommend it, tickets are cheap, crowd is mega friendly and its a great afternoon out

Throw in by Celtic at Petershill Park, a small football stadium overlooked by the gable ends of tenements

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Found it very heartwarming that someone has carefully tucked this wee bag of lost weed into a lamppost. Pollokshields version of finding a kid’s toy on the pavement and putting it on top a bin to make it easier for its owner to find

Lamppost with a bag with (a small amount of) weed in it

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Doing a few tours of the beautiful Govanhill Baths building today. I like these new murals that are going up in Kingarth Lane

Mura showing protesters and banners saying save our pool

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I am a big fan of #WITMonth - when I first heard about it years ago it really showed me how narrow the range of books I was reading actually was. I thought I'd have tons of translated books by women kicking about the flat and in fact I had none. Times have changed!

A delicious pile of books I will be reading from this month:
The Nights are Quiet in Tehran - Shida Bazyar
Girls Against God - Jenny Hval
The Queens of Sarmiento Park - Camila Sosa Villada
When I Sing, Mountains Dance - Irene Sola
A Decolonial Feminism - Francoise Verges
Cursed Bunny - Bora Chung
Taiwan Travelogue - Yang Shuang-zi
Capitalists Must Starve - Park Seolyeon
Not pictured, ebooks!! Maryse Conde, Jenny Erpenbeck and Samira Azzam

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Great wee creature in the National Museum of Scotland

Some sort of badge from a ship with a picture of a shrew with an unimpressed look on its face. Above it is the word TERMAGANT, which has historically been used to describe moany nagging women

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Honestly how incredible to get to be one of the voices on this sonic portrait of a beloved building and the wider social histories of public pools, washhouses and the struggles to save viral community resources

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Pee Tee’s severed head is on display 😢

Head from the mascot costume of a large purple toucan

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Last few days to catch the excellent wee exhibition on the history of @partickthistle.bsky.social at @maryhillburghhalls.bsky.social. My fav was the mascot section. Also theres a good cafe in the burgh hall!

Almost indescribable image of former PTFC mascot Harry Wragg, supposedly a thistle

Harry Wragg the Big Fat Jag. Greenish grey skin tone, alarming staring eyes, full kit, pillow up the football top

Pee Tee the Firhill Flyer appearing to do the can can in the streets of Maryhill

Partick Thistle have, since 1998, had four different mascots, all very different to each other.
The first was Harry Wragg, The Big Fat Jag, who was launched for the Junior Jags and, although a bit raggedy, was loved by the kids. He was meant to represent a thistle but a lot of folk thought he was an asparagus.
Pee Tee, The Firhill Flyer was a 7ft. tall purple toucan and he took the place by storm in 2001. As well as attending home matches, he attended numerous parades, school events, athletics meetings, mascot grand nationals and he featured in two award winning documentaries.
In 2012, a change in shirt sponsorship meant that the club had a new mascot. This was Jaggy Macbee and he was there for a couple of years.
What can be said about Kingsley, probably the most publicised mascot in the world. Launched in 2015, he is still here causing havoc at every home game

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

A thousand year old wee guy from Iran, in the Burrell collection

A bowl in shades of brown and cream with a tremendous drawing of a creature with hooves, a wee collar, rounded ears and a lovely friendly face

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Look at my new jumper! Pleased with how these turned out. Get yourself one here with all profits going to printing free antifascist & antiracist stickers and zines: radical-glasgow-tours.teemill.com

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Enjoyed my short time as a tourist in Lancaster

A labyrinth cut into grass outside the Quaker meeting house in Lancaster. Very fine to walk through it with just the odd bee for company

Purple verbena bonarensis outside the Quaker meeting house, an old and beautiful building with white walls

Beautiful writing carved above a door saying PUBLIC LIBRARY

Football flags up in a pub window with quite cute lettering saying ‘come on England’

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

This has been a great conference @socialhistsoc.bsky.social! Photos from Fearghus Roulston paper on social histories of mould and anti dampness and @annalively.bsky.social paper on anti-communist activism and the Women’s Guild of Empire

Photo of a presentation slide showing images of publications by tenants groups and local groups including one with a picture of Yosser from Boys from the Black Stuff with text “Castlemilk sit-in, c’mon gizza goose!”

Cover of the women’s guild of empire bulletin showing women visiting the industries of the Clyde. Group of women admiring a giant propeller

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

A v good issue of Notes From Below. Really clear, practical writing and suggestions on how to run a workers inquiry, the theory behind it, examples in practice

Cover of Notes from Below journal issue 27, Workers Inquiry: the politics of a method with a blue and green cover of hands holding different tools like a spanner, a wooden spoon, a phone

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Readers, the rain did NOT go off at 2pm

Me absolutely soaking wet wearing a pointless raincoat and holding a pointless umbrella. So wet that my eyes were stinging from the Umberto Giannini curl crème which was washed out of my barnet directly down my face by the quantity of rain lashing down

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Love these new murals under the Kingston Bride

Huge concrete pillars supporting a motorway covered with colourful graffiti

Pillars one featuring a photorealistic woman in sunglasses and a headscarf

Mural by Keiti Forbes saying “the world will end, but love and music will endure” in English and Gaelic

Giant woman on a concrete pillar by Molly Hankinson

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Had a fringe trim, got a delivery of antifascist badges, sorted the holiday reading, did a few radical history tours and now I am looking forwards to Los Cafeteros absolutely smoking Uzbekistan this evening 🙂

Me at the hairdressers wearing an absolutely banging Colombia strip

Gramsci Prison Letters translated by Hamish Henderson + a World Cup wallchart I printed off in the uni library

Outstanding Syrian & Lebanese restaurant Damasquino sporting a No Scotland No Party flag in their window beside the doner

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Huge crowds of antifascists in Glasgow today

Panoramic photo of a big crowd on Buchanan Street

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Haha the colours were carefully curated for maximum jotter vibes as well!

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

No space for racists and fascists in our city!

Graphic in the style of old school jotters Strathclyde Always Antifascist

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Overheard a guy on the way out saying he thought it was terrible! Brother did we just watch the same film

Poster for Hard Boiled showing a bashed-looking Chow Yun Fat holding a shotgun in one arm and a baby in the other

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

What a treat to see Hard Boiled on the big screen at @glasgowfilmtheatre.bsky.social! Love a bit of heroic bloodshed. Plus Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung, simply two of the most charismatic people to ever do it

Poster for the current John Woo series at the GFT

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Just finished this bag, a very nice wee pattern!

A knitted string bag in electric blue shown hanging on a yellow bench with a couple of books in it

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Important new development in the Salaam Cola ecosystem 🍊

Hand holding a tin of incredibly named Salaam Lebanorange, a superior Fanta-esque orange drink

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

I’d a great visit to @womenslibrary.bsky.social during the week for a tour round their archives and a look at the knitting pattern collections

Placard saying solidarity from Glasgow on a shelf above archive boxes

Pile of archive materials with a punk looking zine on the top called The Suffragette

Slide from a presentation showing a knitting pattern from Spare Rib called Knit Yourself a Woman’s Woolly and a photo of the jumper knit up in recent years by GWL volunteer Becky Male

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

I'm doing a radical print tour for the Glasgow Zine Fest this weekend, so made an accompanying zine. Printed on the riso printer at Rumpus Room,. How nice is that blue!

Stack of radical print culture zines in a gorgeous blue ink

A page in the zine on the Poet's Box: "The Poet's Boxes - there were 4 across Scotland and one in Belfast - were small shops where they'd have a printing press in the back, all the latest songs and broadsides, and poems would be written to order on the subject of your choice" (almost)
It also includes an early advertising jingle:
Who loves the songs of every land?
Who keeps the largest stock on hand?
With nothing foul, or contraband?
The Poet!

A page showing Alston type, the first raised alphabet that could be read by blind people, and a precursor to braille. It was printed on a printing press in the building beside the Royal Infirmary

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Up at Glasgow Museums Resource Centre today for a project for the People's Palace refurb, looking at Ken Currie's banners depicting 200 years of Glasgow's working class history. Amazing to see them up close! Think this one of the 1971 UCS Work-In might be my favourite

Picture of a group of workers in front of an Upper Clyde Shipbuilders banner. They are at the weekly meeting which all employees could attend. In front is an apprentice in a boiler suit doodling in a jotter. On the right is a woman with a towering blonde beehive and blue eyeshadow. Others include a lady with a headscarf and a mop, a guy who appears to be making the tea and another guy holding a spirit level. They are all weirdly illuminated with an orangey yellow light so they look a bit like they are glowing around the edges

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

In the Mitchell Library earlier doing some research for an upcoming tour, opened a box of 1938 Empire Exhibition materials to find a wee cache of tat including this slightly radioactive looking model of the Tait Tower inside a jam jar

Small glow in the dark looking model of a 1930s skyscraper type tower, inside a wee jar with a red lid

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Haha I was just reading this morning that this guy who owned the market at Schipka Pass on the Gallowgate was a huge Jags man and wind up merchant who claimed to run a combined Old Firm supporters club called RanCel

Man in a beret, a fake tash and football scarves representing Celtic, Rangers and Partick Thistle in front of loads of hand painted market signs

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Keen to find out more about the claim at the end here that Britoil supported in some way the iconic Glasgow's Miles Better campaign. I recently read that this campaign, inspired by I ❤️ NY, was canned in the 90s because the council could no longer afford the copyright on Mr Happy!

Cover of "Impressions of Glasgow" by Hugh Cochrane with illustrations by Paul Cox, produced by Britoil

BRITOIL IN GLASGOW

Britoil is pleased to be in Glasgow, headquarters of its international operations. The city, founded more than 800 years ago, is proud and forward-looking. It is the economic heart of Scotland. Through the traditions of its mercantile past and its resourcefulness in the high-technology business of the present its people have strong links with most parts of the world.
Responding to the co-operation and straightforward human hospitality it has received, Britoil is happy to contribute what it can to the advancement of Glasgow, its cultural and educational prestige. Support given has included funding the retention of the Whistler collection at Glasgow University, creation of a Chair of Mining and Petroleum Engineering at Strathclyde University, sponsorship of the Scottish National Orchestra's "Leader's Chair", and the launching in London of a campaign entitled "Glasgow's Miles Better"
This is a big-hearted, welcoming city, well worth getting to know. Take our word for it... and our pictures... and our personal good wishes to you

Glasgow's first city branding campaign, Mr Happy a cartoon yellow guy with the slogan GLASGOW"S MILES BETTER around him. Think the photo shows this on the front of the City Chambers

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Got this cracking book during the week, full of incredible anecdotes. Opening line is "The City of Glasgow is undoubtedly the greatest city in the world." 💯

Cover of The Heart of Glasgow by Jack House, with an old photo looking along the Trongate on it

Back cover of the book showing the Glasgow coat of arms and the rhyme:
The bell that never rang,
The fish that never swam,
The tree that never grew,
The bird that never flew.

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Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

May Day poster this year is great:

Poster for Glasgow May Day march on 3rd May, assemble 10:30am Barrowland Park, leaving at 11am going to Glasgow University Union for a rally at 12:30. Graphics are of the May Day A-Z. A for Acvitism, B for Better Buses for Strathclyde, C for comrades, F for Free Palestine, R for Roses (and bread too) etc

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